The American Red Cross is already on the ground in communities throughout the projected path of Hurricane Helene.
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00:00While Hurricane Helene gains strength in the Gulf, well, its path is going to bring significant
00:05impacts to several states. Now, the American Red Cross is preparing to help in all of these
00:10locations. Evan Peterson is the national spokesperson, and he joins us now. Good to
00:14see you again, Evan. Thanks for making time for us. Of course, this is a very important topic,
00:19and we want to make sure that everyone is prepared who is in the path of this storm.
00:23Absolutely, and I know that you're in Atlanta, a tropical storm warning in effect for you,
00:28but where are American Red Cross staffers and volunteers setting up to help the most,
00:32and where is the current focus for this storm? Well, I'll first say that because we are a
00:38national organization, the benefits of us having so many people at our disposal who want to get
00:43involved and want to help is that much of the area that you forecasted that this storm is going to be
00:48plowing over, we already have people there. We've been in these communities for many,
00:53many years, and when we saw this popping up on the radar, we immediately began conversations with
00:58not just our community partners and then, obviously, the residents of these towns,
01:03but also county emergency management officials, even state and even federal officials who want
01:08to know what we're doing. So right now, we have mobilized about 360 disaster-trained
01:14responders to go where the help is needed. Now, obviously, the message we're going to be telling
01:18people is going to vary depending on where they are as it relates to this storm moving in,
01:23but if this storm has not landed on your doorstep yet, we are telling you please be prepared.
01:28Start making plans now if you already haven't. Make sure you and your family are safe.
01:32Absolutely, and that is a key here. Safety is our first priority, and beyond that would be mitigating
01:38damage or loss to people's structures or properties. With the potential size and power of
01:43this hurricane, does that change any of your planned response compared to maybe a smaller storm?
01:50Whether it's a tropical storm or it's a Category 5 hurricane, every single disaster we take
01:55incredibly seriously, and we want people to know, again, that if you have not had this storm land
02:00on you just yet, please make sure you are taking the opportunity to make sure you've got a plan
02:06to evacuate if you need to and also understanding your routes. If you've got one route to get to
02:11an emergency shelter, make sure you've got a backup route in case roads start getting flooded
02:16or closed or blocked off for some reason. We'd also ask people to go to our emergency app.
02:22Just type in on Apple or Android devices, American Red Cross, and in this app we have helpful tips
02:27and information on how to build disaster preparedness kits, so if you need to evacuate,
02:32it'll tell you and walk you through step-by-step on what you need to bring for you and your family,
02:36or if you need to stay in shelter in place, how to do that, as well as finding shelters.
02:41We appreciate your time and all the efforts that you and others with the Red Cross,
02:45whether it's helping a family that may have lost their home or townhouse to a structure fire,
02:50to a large-scale event like a major hurricane. The American Red Cross does many good things,
02:55and again, you can donate to the cause there if you are so inclined. The American Red Cross
03:01by texting 90999. Thanks again. Evan Peterson there with the American Red Cross.
03:06All right. Thank you. Thank you. And we want to take a look at one slightly more short-term risk
03:11here that we're facing. We're going to zoom into the Florida Keys tornado warning in effect here
03:15for part of the Keys, a little bit east of Key West itself.